Okay, A Little Political Perspective On The Olympic Bid Loss

[Yavin4]

Mayor Bloomberg campaigned hard to bring the Olympics to NYC, and he too failed. The political fallout? Bloomberg was re-elected Mayor, and now, he's seeking a third term.

IOW, folks will forget about this in another week or so. Stop watching alarmist cable news.

[LynneSin]

1. I'm really pulling for Rio - we've never had an Olympics in South America or Africa

and the United States has been blessed multiple times including recently: Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Lake Placid, and Los Angeles to name a few.

OOoooooo Rio got it - Congrats!!

[Common Sense Party]

8. Parabéns, Rio!

[TwilightGardener]

2. Pres. Obama and Michelle tried, it didn't work out, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Movin' on.

[havocmom]

4. And the President got to meet with his commander in Afghanistan

on AF1. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/10/obama_us_troop_chief_meet_on_air_force_one.php?ref=fpb

Probably more productive than flying the general to D.C. and safer than flying the boss to Afghanistan.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Yes, that was a good side benefit.

[havocmom]

16. Can't help but think it was the reason. The Olympics might have been a cover

[Libertas1776]

3. Just a little note on Bloomberg...

He is preparing to buy his third term, now that he has overturned the very term limits he originally supported. And there are plenty of NYers who despise Bloomberg and his failed attempt at getting the Olympics and attempting to build a massive stadium on the West Side of Manhattan using public financing for the occasion.

[hatrack]

9. Loved the Yankee Stadium story - $1 billion in public money to build it, and in return . . .

They tried to market single seats behind home plate that cost members of the general public at $5,000 per game when the place opened. Didn't work out too well.

But then, without a new heavily subsidized Yankee Stadium, New York wouldn't have been a "world-class" city, right?

:eyes:

[enid602]

14. cathedral

That's like the story about LA´s new cathedral; to raise funds for construction, they sold crypts in the basement to movie stars. Still, it is beautiful.

[ginnyinWI]

5. Obama still comes out looking good.

If Chicago had won, the right would be screaming about it being rigged or fixed. Endlessly.

If Chicago had lost and Obama had not gone to Copenhagen, he would have been attacked for not going to help win it--he would own the loss.

Since he did go, and they lost, it's probably the best outcome for him politically. No screaming about Chicago corruption for the rest of his presidency, and no criticisms for letting his home town down. And he got so see McCrystal in person too.

[Ineeda]

10. that's it in a nutshell

It would have been great for Chicago area jobs, though.

[ginnyinWI]

11. I saw one analysis that called that into question.

Can't remember who it was--on Newshour maybe? They said that it wouldn't necessarily be a net gain for Chicago--can't remember the details. Here in Wisconsin, they were already looking at it with dollar signs in their eyes though.

[Democrats_win]

6. Rush Limbaugh bought 10 million Chicago 2016 T-Shirts. It's bad Folks!

I'm sure Rush is using his Marlon-Brando-in-a-cave-Apocalypse-Now voice.

[maglatinavi]

12. Olympics

How could anyone think that Chicago had a chance after the horrific video of the murder of an honor student in Chicago??? What kind of promotion was that henious crime? :banghead: :rant: :kick:

[Berry Cool]

13. Yeah, because everyone knows Rio is such a crime-free city.

:sarcasm:

[enid602]

15. Rio

Remeber that here in the US, the host city is always responsible for cost overruns. I think Los Angeles is the only US city to profitably host the Olympics, and they did this by not building ANY new olympic venues in 1984. Rio won´t have that problem, as the feds there will pick up all costs. For Brazil, the Olympics are seen as a matter of national pride, much like their ambitious nukes project. The gov´t of Rio is already starting the preparations; this year they´re installing those high concrete transportation walls around the flavelhas.